Food & Function Blog

Issue 11 of Food & Function is now available to read online.

The front cover this month features work by Petr Nachtigal and co-workers from Prague, Czech Republic. In their work they investigate whether Spirulina Platensis, a water blue-green alga, can activate atheroprotective heme oxygenase-1 (Mnox1) – a mechanism which would suggest the benefit of S.  platensis as a food supplement in the reduction of atherosclerotic disease.

Read the article in full – it’s free to access for the next six weeks:
Spirulina platensis and phycocyanobilin activate atheroprotective heme oxygenase-1: a possible implication for atherogenesis
Zbynek Strasky, Lenka Zemankova, Ivana Nemeckova, Jana Rathouska, Ronald J. Wong, Lucie Muchova, Iva Subhanova, Jana Vanikova, Katerina Vanova, Libor Vitek and Petr Nachtigal  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 1586-1594, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60230C

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Here are the latest HOT papers published in Food & Function, as recommended by the referees:

Citrus flavanones enhance carotenoid uptake by intestinal Caco-2 cells
Dhuique-mayer Claudie, During Alexandrine, Caporiccio Bertrand, Tourniaire Franck and Amiot Marie-Josephe 
Food Funct., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60212E, Paper

Honeysuckle anthocyanin supplementation prevents diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6 mice
Tao Wu, Zhuoping Yu, Qiong Tang, Haizhao Song, Zichun Gao, Wei Chen and Xiaodong Zheng  
Food Funct., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60251F, Paper

Enhanced lymphatic transport of bioactive lipids: cell culture study of polymethoxyflavone incorporation into chylomicrons
Mingfei Yao, Jingjing Chen, Jinkai Zheng, Mingyue Song, David Julian McClements and Hang Xiao  
Food Funct., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60335K, Paper

All the papers listed above are free to access for the next 4 weeks!

A team of Chinese scientists has suggested that what you drink following the consumption of alcoholic beverages could alter the effect of alcohol on your body. Following tests on a number of drinks, the carbonated drink Sprite emerged as a potential reliever of alcohol-related symptoms.

Could altering the activities of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase ease a hangover?

The effects of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol are well known. In the short-term, alcohol leads to feeling drunk followed by a hangover, while regularly consuming more than the recommended amount of alcohol can cause liver disease, heart disease, stroke and cancer.  

Some of the adverse effects of alcohol are thought to be caused, not by the ethanol itself, but by ethanol’s first metabolite, acetaldehyde. Ethanol is metabolised into acetaldehyde by an enzyme know as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and then into acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Unlike acetaldehyde, acetate is innocuous and may even be responsible for some of the positive health benefits of alcohol consumption. Therefore the key to reducing alcohol-related damage lies in minimising the amount of time acetaldehyde is present in the body.  

Hua-Bin Li and co-workers from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou hypothesised that substances which alter the activities of ADH and ALDH would consequently alter the duration acetaldehyde exposure. They went on to systematically test the effect a variety of common carbonated beverages and herbal teas had on ADH and ALDH activity assays.   

Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

Read the original journal article in Food & Function:
Effects of Herbal Infusion, Tea and Carbonated Beverage on Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activities
Sha Li, Li-Qin Gan, Shu-Ke Li, Jie-Cong Zheng, Dong-Ping Xu and H B Li  
Food Funct., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60282F

Issue 10 of Food & Function is now available to read online.

The front cover this month features work by Daniele Del Rio and co-workers from Parma, Italy. In their work they propose an in silico approach to evaluate the potential xenoestrogenic agonistic behavior of ellagitannin-derived metabolites, and highlight  xenoestrogenic activity that differs depending on the chemical structure.

Read the article in full – it’s free to access for the next six weeks:
Modelling the possible bioactivity of ellagitannin-derived metabolites. In silico tools to evaluate their potential xenoestrogenic behavior
Luca Dellafiora, Pedro Mena, Pietro Cozzini, Furio Brighenti and Daniele Del Rio  
Food Funct., 2013, 4, 1442-1451, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60117J

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Scientists investigating the health enhancing properties of spirulina have identified that its atheroprotective activity may be due to it having a protein with a similar structure to bilirubin.

Traditionally eaten by the Aztecs, spirulina is now easily available in tablet and powder forms © Shutterstock

Spirulina, a blue–green algae taken as a food supplement, has gained cult superfood status because it is packed full of proteins, polysaccharides and vitamins. It has also sparked a craze of urban gardening – barrels of the edible algae are being grown on rooftops in Bangkok, Thailand. Although its atheroprotective effects are well established, scientists have been unsure about the mechanism behind its activity.

Now a team, led by Petr Nachtigal at Charles University in Prague, say they are closer to the answer. Spirulina’s atheroprotective activity was already thought to be due to an algal protein complex called phycocyanobilin (PCB). PCB is structurally related to the human bile pigment bilirubin, which is clinically proven to protect against oxidative-stress related diseases such as atherosclerosis.

 Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Food & Function:
Spirulina platensis and phycocyanobilin activate atheroprotective heme oxygenase-1: A possible implication for atherogenesis
Zbynek Strasky, Lenka Zemankova, Ivana Nemeckova, Jana Rathouska, Ronald J Wong, Lucie Muchova, Iva Subhanova, Jana Vanikova, Katerina Vanova, Libor Vitek and Petr Nachtigal  
Food Funct., 2013, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60230C

Here is the latest HOT paper published in Food & Function, as recommended by the referees:

Hepatoprotective properties of the Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn): a review
Karadka Ramdas Thilakchand, Rashmi Teresa Mathai, Paul Simon, Rithin T. Ravi, Manjeshwar Poonam Baliga-Rao and Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga  
Food Funct., 2013, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60237K

This paper is free to access for the next 4 weeks!

Here are the latest HOT papers in Food & Function, as recommended by the referees:

Role of endothelial cell membrane transport in red wine polyphenols-induced coronary vasorelaxation: involvement of bilitranslocase
Lovro Ziberna, Jong-Hun Kim, Cyril Auger, Sabina Passamonti and Valérie Schini-Kerth  
Food Funct., 2013, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60160A

Modelling the possible bioactivity of ellagitannin-derived metabolites. In silico tools to evaluate their potential xenoestrogenic behavior
Luca Dellafiora, Pedro Mena, Pietro Cozzini, Furio Brighenti and Daniele Del Rio  
Food Funct., 2013, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60117J

Both the papers listed above are free to access for the next 4 weeks!

Issue 9 of Food & Function is now available to read online.

The front cover this month features work by Stefan Bon and co-workers from Warwick, UK. In their work they show that the dispersion of agar microgels into chocolate formulations can be used to reduce fat content, and also allows for the introduction of alcoholic beverages whilst preserving the desired polymorph V of the cocoa butter matrix.

Read article in full – it’s free to access for the next six weeks:
High internal phase agar hydrogel dispersions in cocoa butter and chocolate as a route towards reducing fat content
Thomas S. Skelhon, Patrik K. A. Olsson, Adam R. Morgan and Stefan A. F. Bon  
Food Funct., 2013,4, 1314-1321, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60122F

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